Brexit negotiators are working “day and night” to try to reach a deal, the EU’s Michel Barnier has said.

He said an agreement had to be “within our grasp” if talks are to conclude at next week’s summit of European leaders.

He also warned that Theresa May’s trade proposals would give UK companies a “huge competitive edge” over EU rivals.

His comments came as the Democratic Unionists indicated they were prepared to vote against the Budget if it is unhappy with the Brexit deal.

BBC Newsnight’s Nick Watt said the Northern Ireland party would end its Parliamentary support for the prime minister if she agrees to anything that leads to additional checks between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

Earlier Mrs May urged MPs to “put the national interest first” when deciding whether to approve the Brexit deal in a crunch vote likely later this year.

The UK and the EU have yet to strike a deal on how Brexit will work, with less than six months to go before the UK leaves on 29 March.

One of the key things they have not yet agreed is how to prevent there being new border checks between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which is a member of the EU.

There have been warnings that a so-called “hard border” will damage businesses and undermine peace in Northern Ireland.

Both the UK and the EU have resolved to put in place a “backstop” - which is a kind of insurance policy to prevent a hard border in case the final trade deal they agree does not do this.

Speaking to business leaders in Brussels, Mr Barnier said negotiators were “intensively” working to find a deal.

‘Politically sensitive’

He said there would have to be checks on goods travelling to Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK, because they would effectively be arriving in the EU’s single market if there was no hard border with the Republic of Ireland.

“I understand why such procedures are politically sensitive,” he said, but added “Brexit was not our choice, it is the choice of the UK.

“Our proposal tries to help the UK in managing the negative fallout of Brexit in Northern Ireland in a way that respects the territorial integrity of the UK.”

Mr Barnier said there were several areas of agreement with Mrs May’s plans, published in a White Paper in July.

But he also set out key objections to her proposed new trading relationship which involves a UK-EU customs partnership and a “common rulebook” for goods travelling across the border.

This would lead to a loss of customs duty income for EU states, he said. And on the plans to align rules on goods, he added: “This type of single market system a la carte would be tantamount to giving a huge competitive edge to UK companies with respect to companies operating within the single market.”

However, if an agreement could be reached, the EU will have 10 “parallel negotiating teams” ready to start drawing up the details straight after Brexit day, he added.

squeaky bum time for the EU with their car factories facing meltdown if they dont act fast ..and tourism to europe next year in the balance and a massive loss of expenditure on foreign holidays and air flights

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said on Wednesday an agreement with Britain could be "within reach" next week, calling for decisive progress in the talks in time for a summit of all 28 EU leaders.

Negotiators from both sides have been locked in talks this week to overcome differences on the biggest outstanding hurdle to a deal - how to keep the UK frontier with the Irish republic free of border checks after Britain leaves the EU in March.

Barnier told small business leaders that the talks were "continuing intensively this week, day and night, with the aim ... of having a deal within reach, if we follow through to the end of this negotiations, on Oct. 17."

Leaders of the 27 countries that will remain in the EU meet in Brussels on Oct. 17, a day before British Prime Minister Theresa May joins the summit.

Good points indeed. There are some EU nations that will be harder hit with the UK's leaving than others and Spain is a case in point. I am pretty sure that the EU's upper management will be dangling all sorts of carrots at these unfortunates which may in turn bring about an outbreak of 'Where's mine?" from fellow, less-affected EU members who will try and remind the governing entity that it's a 'union' after all.

In Scotland, the perils of "Whaurs mine?" wrought of the SNP's arbitrary handing out of all sorts of freebies and boondoggles as trinkets and baubles to certain councils and local governments caused all sorts of rancor. Still does.

I was reading an article about how one of the UK's nearest neighbors could benefit. The Dutch, through the port of Rotterdam, already command when it comes to goods entering and leaving the EU. If the UK goes away, their fortunes will probably improve as they handle more stuff that previously entered through the UK's ports. The argument is extended to include the possibility that this leveraged importance in the simple logistics of EU import/may fuel their own, nascent Nexit movement.

Since when did the EU give a toss about Spain, Greece et al and their tourism? If they think that the northern ports will benefit they'll quite happily toss the southern states economies to the wolves, as they've done many times in the past. In the death I doubt there will be much in the way of import duty between us and the EU, it's not going to suit anyone, least of all the Bavarian car manufacturers and the fine houses of Rheims etc, I'd pretty much stake a good chunk on status quo, there'll be all kinds of horse manure before we get to it but in the death commerce will win, there's a huge super port been built on the old Coryton site, increasing the tonnage at Tilbury to exceed 50,000,000 tonnes, that wouldn't be happening if they felt there was going to be a downturn in freight, these guys aren't fools.

"I don't risk my life for the sake of my children, I risk it for the sake of everyone's children" Stephen Yaxley-Lennon aka Tommy Robison - Free speech activist 2017

Quote - "Since when did the EU give a toss about Spain, Greece et al and their tourism?"
Good grief , the Brexiteers lack of knowledge is staggering.
Did you ever go to Spain or Greece before the Eu actually "updated" the infrastructure? Have you been to these countries in the 70's?
No thought not.
Just a tiny difference.
Instead of donkeys and carts on dirt roads they actually drive modern cars on some of the best roads in Europe (in Spain anyway). Amongst a myriad of other things, like modern, clean, inner cities, modern education systems & universities etc etc.
Who do you think paid for all that? Yep, you did, amongst millions of other Europeans.
Now, go back and bury your head in your British sand.

Actually I've been going to most of Europe since the 70's and they've never been as backward as you're saying here. What you need to do is compare unemployment and economic growth differences between the Northern and Southern states, Thai whatever you call yourself once again trying to be contentious without backing up his cobblers with FACTS, it just doesn't work...

"I don't risk my life for the sake of my children, I risk it for the sake of everyone's children" Stephen Yaxley-Lennon aka Tommy Robison - Free speech activist 2017

Spain has one of the highest unemployment rates in Europe , with youth unemployment at something like 25%.
Yes it has new roads , leading to deserted towns with un used airports and the like . All of it built with borrowed money from Brussels , putting the county in masses of debt .
Just like they threw money at Greece to buy nice new German tanks and arms they didnt need. Nearly bankrupting the country .
The E U s thinking , keep them poor and subservient .
Ive been to a lot of countries in Europe ,before and after they joined the E U , and i cant think of one place thats better than it used to be.

The prosperity in Spain was very short lived, I was in the Canaries the week it swapped over to the Euro, the locals were shocked at the immediate rise in prices of staples, the was no correlation between the price in Pesetas and the new one in Euros, the suppliers used it as an excuse to raise prices. Since then I've been to Spain and the islands many, many times and what's really significant is the amount of building complexes that sit there half completed, they're everywhere, a short walk back from the coast and there's hundreds of them, we stayed in Gran Canaria just before we moved here, we went for a short walk around the coast and there's a half finished golf complex, they've opened the course but can't finish the apartments. Most of these complexes were funded by EU grants but when the money dried up the developers went bust in droves. Of course Thai whatever he calls himself is an expert, he's been there many times and seen the prosperity the EU has brought them it's just a shame the locals don't realise how lucky they are, they are just as reliant on tourism as they ever were, another reason why travel needs to be kept as simple as possible or whole islands will go bust with the exception perhaps of the banana growers but as we will be buying our bananas from the Caribbean they can't even rely on that.

"I don't risk my life for the sake of my children, I risk it for the sake of everyone's children" Stephen Yaxley-Lennon aka Tommy Robison - Free speech activist 2017

"Of course Thai whatever he calls himself"
Yeah it ain't Smith or Jones, so it becomes a bit difficult to pronounce. Innit?
I'm sure you're one of these Englanders that loves Torremolinos and other Brit enclaves, moaned about the local population and the weather and the food and wondered where the nearest place that sold pies and Watneys red Barrel was. And why can't they speak better English?
Plenty of older Brits here who'd rather be in Spain, but can't afford it,
Classless, utterly classless.